Currently, there are two ways of applying a credit card, i.e., mail-in application and on-line application. Both methods follow a static and one-dimensional questionnaire format. An applicant fills out an application, in either the mail form or the on-line form, which consists of background questions about personal information, demographic profiles, and financial information. The application containing the answers to these questions is then submitted to a credit card issuer. The credit card issuer evaluates both the applicant-supplied information and credit bureau-supplied data about this applicant's credit history by means of an established methodology, and makes a decision about whether to approve, or decline, or further review the application. The relevant teachings could be obtained from the patents issued to Norris in the area of realtime processing of loan applications, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,870,721; 5,940,811; and 6,105,007.
However, these conventional credit card application methods have the following limitations. To make a credit decision, they cannot obtain enough information from the credit bureau about an applicant with a limited or even no credit history. Besides, they can not capture credit interests of an applicant (e.g., credit card seeker, or reward driven, or partner affinity) and incorporate this information into the decision process. Furthermore, they cannot reflect risks associated with an applicant from different partners.
Hence, in order to overcome these limitations and optimize the credit decision process, there is a need to establish an on-line interactive and partner-enhanced credit card application system.